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A major milestone has been reached by the Electronic Products Recycling Association (EPRA) Saskatchewan.

EPRA says they have now recycled over 25,000 metric tonnes of end-of-life electronics (EOLE) since the program started in 2007.

“We’re thrilled with the uptake from Saskatchewan residents who have been so enthusiastic about the program for the past nine years,” said Gayleen Creelman, who is the program director for EPRA Saskatchewan.

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“To put that amount in perspective, 25,000 MT is more than the weight of 150 Statues of Liberty.”

They are collected at 72 SARCAN locations across Saskatchewan and recycled back into the manufacturing supply chain so fewer natural resources are needed to make new products.

“There is always more that we could be recycling and diverting from landfill and our beautiful environment,” said Creelman, who added that recent polls indicate 80 per cent of people in the province are hanging on to EOLE’s.

“I encourage every Saskatchewan resident to drop-off these items for recycling through EPRA.”

READ MORE: ‘That could be their lifeline’: Group provides refurbished computers to those in need

EPRA is also teaming up with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the takeback to touchdown partnership, which encourages people to show how green they are by recycling electronics.

“In Saskatchewan, we’ve been the leader when it came to product stewardship for EOLE, and together with the people of Saskatchewan we will continue leading the way long into the future,” Creelman said.

Canada has moved up in the world as the second most socially advanced country, according to the 2016 Social Progress Index.

The index, released Tuesday, ranks 133 countries in three major categories; “Basic Human Needs,” “Foundations of Wellbeing” and “Opportunity.”

This year, Canada moved up into the top three countries ranking just behind Finland and just beating out Denmark. Canada was sixth overall in last year’s report.

Based on 53 indicators, Canada ranked 1st overall in the “Opportunity” category that measures indicators of personal rights, personal freedom and choice, access to advanced education and tolerance and inclusion.

“Canada is known for its social welfare policies. It also leads the world on the Opportunity dimension, ranking first place in Access to Advanced Education (87.42), thanks to its top-ranking universities and access to tertiary education,” reads the report.

The report suggests Canada needs to improve on the shelter indicator as the country sits 12th overall. The report said Canada, Sweden, Norway and Iceland rank outside the top ten in this category due to the lack of affordable housing. The 19th ranked U.S. tops Canada in the shelter indicator.

Here are the top 10 countries according to the 2016 Social Progress index:1. Finland2. Canada3. Denmark4. Australia5. Switzerland6. Sweden7. Norway8. Netherlands9. United Kingdom10. Iceland / New Zealand

As the Toronto Star points out, Canada’s worst ranking on the index fell (102nd) in the number of mobile phone subscriptions. For every 100 people, only 81 have a phone plan. Michael Green, the index’s director told the newspaper the ranking was “strikingly low.”

“That’s an area of social progress that’s really easy to fix. Countries with much lower levels of GDP have fixed it, and Canada is sort of falling back on that one,” Green told the Star. “Perhaps a slightly weird thing about Canada is that Canada is showing weakness in an area the world knows how to solve, on the other hand Canada is also doing pretty well on tolerance and inclusion, which is a much harder problem.”

Johnny Depp, in the midst of divorce proceedings with his former wife Amber Heard, has once again altered a tattoo on his body to correspond with his changing relationship status.

Originally, Depp had the letters “S-L-I-M” tattooed over his right-hand knuckles — apparently that was his nickname for Heard — and when photographers zoomed in at his band’s recent concert, it was discovered it had been altered to “S-C-U-M.”

Of course, Depp did something similar when he split with actress Winona Ryder after four years together: he changed his “Winona Forever” tattoo into the ever-classy “Wino Forever.”

Depp is currently on tour with his band, Hollywood Vampires. He and his group play Casino Rama, near Orillia, Ont., on July 8.

Heard, 30, was granted a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband on May 27 after submitting a sworn declaration in which she alleged Depp, 53, threw her cellphone at her face and repeatedly hit her.

Depp’s camp has accused Heard of fabricating the abuse in order to make money. The divorcing couple didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement, and Depp is estimated to be worth upwards of US$400 million.

Depp is trying to ensure that many of his assets stay his. He specifically noted “miscellaneous jewelry,” earnings made after their separation and, as stipulated in his response, “there are additional separate property assets and obligations of the parties, the exact nature and extent of which are not presently known.”

“Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation and lies about his personal life,” read a statement released to the media. “Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly.”

Heard and Depp were married in 2014. She filed for divorce the day after the alleged blowup, citing irreconcilable differences.

WATCH: Winona Ryder comments on the abuse allegations made against her ex-fiancé Johnny Depp

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According to National Geographic, George Beccaloni of London’s Natural History Museum was on his honeymoon in Thailand in 2001 when he started lifting up rocks near streams. The entymologist found the centipede lying beneath a rock and, instead of it running into the forest, it skittered into the water and hid under a rock.

Beccaloni captured the “horrific-looking” centipede and put it into a container of water where it dived to the bottom and swam like an eel. When it was removed from the container, the water simply slid off it, leaving it dry.

He approached a centipede expert at the museum, who doubted it was of the genus Scolopendra, which are giant land-loving centipedes. So the centipede remained on a shelf for years.

But it wasn’t the end of the story.

Warut Siriwut, a colleague of Beccaloni’s, had found two specimens of centipedes in Laos near waterfalls, naming them Scolopendra cataracta. It turns out that that was the specimen Beccaloni had collected from Thailand.

There are only four known specimens of the species: the aforementioned three, as well as one collected in 1928 that had been misidentified (it had been in the museum’s collection).

And of course, as with all centipedes, this new species is venomous, though its sting wouldn’t kill you. It would merely leave you in pretty significant pain. Oh, and they can grow u p to 20 cm long. Seems like the stuff of nightmares.

The reason the 25-year-old is able to keep her living costs so low, and squirrel away up to half her paycheque: She’s part of a growing number of Canadians buying “tiny homes.” The small parcels of property have made home ownership more affordable for millennials.

Creswell bought her 335-square-foot bachelor suite, located in Edmonton’s popular Oliver neighbourhood, off Kijiji last fall for $154,000 (a grand below asking price).

“It’s a shoebox, for sure,” she said. “But it’s my home.”

She doesn’t think she’s sacrificing anything by living in the small space, which she spent $15,000 to furnish. It’s surprisingly versatile.

“I can have 10 people over for a movie, I can have six people over for dinner… and I can have a master bedroom in the evening.”

There’s floor-to-ceiling cabinetry (enough for two full-size closets) around her custom-made Murphy bed, and loads of storage space throughout the suite thanks to help from a local carpenter.

“I’m not a minimalist whatsoever.”

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Her job as a civil environmental engineer would afford her a larger living space, but Creswell has “no aspiration of owning a house.” She’d rather spend her money on traveling and saving up for an early retirement, “without working 80-hour weeks.”

Creswell’s choice has been tough for some (i.e. older people) to comprehend.

READ MORE: Tiny homes growing in popularity but looking for place to call home in Canada

Real estate experts have traditionally advised people against investing in one bedroom condos, let alone bachelor units, due to resale value.

The way Creswell sees it, though, is that if she ever wants to rent her condo out it’d be to one person or a couple, the same as with a one-bedroom. Except a one-bedroom would cost her $70,000 more and would double her condo fees and heating bills.

Another perk of her tiny place, she pointed out, is that it encourages her to be out and about enjoying her neighbourhood.

“If you’re both homebodies and introverts you may have an issue.”

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FULL STORY: Tiny Homes

Her tips for maximizing a tiny space

1. Think of the shape of the room.

If you don’t already rent or own one of these micro units, Creswell recommends looking for a place that has a simple, wide rectangular shape.

Ideally the windows would be on the longer side of the rectangle. Otherwise, she says, you’ll end up placing something in front of them, which will block your light and make the space feel smaller.

Also, avoid condos with long hallways because that’s just wasted space.

Creswell looked at a couple places that were up to 200 square feet bigger than her current unit, but felt smaller because of their layout.

2. Think outside the box.

“Sit down and ask yourself what you want in your dream home. You need to build that in or you won’t be happy. You’ll get tired after a year or two.”

For her, a big closet and pantry were important. She watched a ton of YouTube videos before hiring a carpenter to help bring her storage-heavy vision to fruition.

“[There’s] probably just a square meter of wall that hasn’t been covered,” she said, “including my door.”

If you’re handy and into DIY projects, she thinks you could probably do most of what she did yourself.

She relied heavily on a free 30-day trial of SketchUp, which is essentially a 3D mapping tool. You put in the dimensions of your home and then when you’re at a furniture store, you plop in the measurements of whatever you’re considering to visualize how it’d fit.

3. Look for furniture that can be used in at least three ways.

Her wide dining room chairs transform into lounge chairs and two twin beds, so she’s able to have two guests comfortably sleep over.

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Design inspiration for a tiny home, courtesy of Laura Creswell’s small bachelor condo.

Tim Lutic

Her desk chairs also double as stepladders. Her coffee table acts as scarf storage as well as a third seat to her pop-down dining room table.

“It’s all how you use it.”

Follow @TrishKozicka

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Some are celebrating and others are ruing the news that former prosecutor Nancy Grace is leaving her prime-time show on HLN in October. The acerbic host had accumulated quite the audience over 12 years on the air, but there were always detractors, and they certainly weren’t shy on 桑拿会所.

I’m celebrating Nancy Grace’s departure from HLN by stomping on her headshot while wearing the shoes she threw at me one time.

— Mary Cella (@mary_cella) June 30, 2016

Ya know I hate Nancy Grace with a Passion..her leaving HLN is the greatest Birthday Present I could receive

— KC&Chill (@iDIKher) July 2, 2016

Lot of judgment….What did Nancy Grace ever do to anybody. Besides make a missing kid’s mom kill herself

— Proven Content Maker (@Bro_Pair) July 1, 2016

The CNN sister station said Grace told her staff on Thursday that her show would be ending. Grace, 56, said in a statement that she’ll be leaving “with a full heart and endless gratitude.”

She hasn’t announced any specific new plans, and HLN wasn’t saying what type of show would replace her.

READ MORE: Stunned father told on live TV by Nancy Grace his missing son was found alive

Grace, who turned to law after her fiancee was murdered in college, worked in an Atlanta-area district attorney’s office and became a go-to television personality commenting on trials in the post-O.J. Simpson era. Her HLN show focused on missing children and crime victims. When Grace formed an opinion on a case, she pursued it with a barracuda-like intensity.

Arguably her biggest moment was when she “found” a missing child in a basement in June 2014.

Her popularity boomed when missing children cases like Caylee Anthony, Natalee Holloway and Elizabeth Smart dominated mainstream news. But fewer of those cases have broken through to wide attention in recent years. In the age demographic that television executives seek, her audience dropped to a third or quarter what it was in its peak years.

READ MORE: Shania Twain asked to help in search for missing New York woman

“She gave a voice to the voiceless and we are extremely grateful for her contributions to the network,” said Ken Jautz, HLN’s chief executive.

Grace said the show “created an unparalleled platform that gave crime victims a voice and succeeded in helping to find missing people and solve unsolved homicides.”

“I will continue my fight for justice across a variety of traditional and new media, where victims’ voices can reach an entirely engaged audience,” she said.

The Atlantic premiers have announced details of a first-in-Canada pilot project designed to boost the region’s flagging economy through immigration, with a particular focus on ensuring that newcomers don’t join the steady stream of outmigration to other parts of the country.

Under the plan, the government will accept up to 2,000 immigrant applications in 2017, with increased numbers in the following years depending on performance.

“So it could be something like 4,000 people, and that number is scheduled to rise in coming years, depending on how well we do,” said John McCallum, the federal minister of immigration.

He said the immigration component will be largely driven by the provincial governments and their specific needs.

“We will be open to a variety of skill classes, and we, in my office, will work with each government to develop a plan specific to their own province with a focus on particular occupations, particular regions and with a focus on engaging companies to not only recruit the immigrants but to undertake measures to keep them here,” he said.

The details were announced Monday at a meeting in Prince Edward Island of the premiers and a number of federal cabinet ministers.

Program to pilot in Atlantic Canada

McCallum said the two levels of government will look for ways to ensure that once immigrants arrive, they’ll stay in a particular region. He said that could include efforts to expedite credentials for different jobs.

He said while the program will be a pilot project in Atlantic Canada, it could be the model for the rest of the country in years to come.

When asked what’s being done to entice people who have left their provinces to return, New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant said attracting new people and repatriating residents is all part of the same effort.

Prince Edward Island Premier Wade MacLauchlan agreed.

“I truly believe by succeeding on immigration we will make Prince Edward Island a more attractive place in terms of repatriation,” MacLauchlan said.

He said the workforce in his province must grow in order to create sustained prosperity.

Existing unemployed residents won’t be overlooked

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball said while increased immigration is necessary, it doesn’t mean that existing residents that are unemployed will be overlooked.

“Newfoundland and Labrador will always continue to invest in our residents who are ready and looking for employment. We will continue to train those that are under-skilled and looking for work,” he said.

Ball also stressed that the immigration plan is only one of the five pillars in the new Atlantic Growth Strategy.

Details will later be announced dealing with innovation, clean growth and climate change, trade and investment, and infrastructure.

“Our fundamental goal is to increase the number of good paying jobs and opportunities here in Atlantic Canada,” said Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science and economic development.

He said the growth strategy won’t be just another report that gathers dust.

“It’s legitimately about us focusing on areas of action and we can really move the agenda forward in a collaborative manner where we align our priorities and resources and we are outcome driven,” he said.

It was another year of big headlines on Parliament Hill. The new Liberal government tried to find its feet, a bromance bloomed and — as usual — more than a few people found themselves in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Here, in no particular order, are the top political moments of 2015. Elbows up!

Bromance with Barack

Whether real or imagined, the friendship between incoming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing President Barack Obama was the subject of endless chatter in 2016.

A visit to Washington, D.C. in the spring featured the like-minded leaders cuddling babies and posing for photos, and culminated in a glittering state dinner.

The goodwill continued when Obama showed up over the summer to address Parliament, prompting (some said embarrassing) chants of “four more years!” in the House.

There were hugs. There were high-fives. The word “dude-plomacy” was uttered. It all ended too soon.

Mulcair gets rejected. Hard.

If Tom Mulcair thought he was going to get a pass from his party’s membership after a dismal showing in the 2015 federal election, he got a very rough dose of reality at the NDP convention in April.

Pundits speculated that Mulcair would need to clear 70 per cent support in order to stay on as leader. He didn’t even hit 50.

Then, because things just weren’t awkward enough, he confirmed he’ll be staying on until a replacement is chosen sometime in 2017. So far, nobody has officially entered the race.

Elbowgate

By international standards, our House of Commons is downright serene, so a brief moment of contact between the prime minister’s elbow and a fellow MP’s upper body qualified as an all-out ruckus.

Trudeau apologized three times for the elbow-to-the-chest heard around the world. Politicians rose to express their shock and dismay, media went nuts (sorry), and average Canadians just wanted the whole thing to blow over. Eventually, it did.

Assisted death

Canada’s new assisted-dying law was arguably themost contentious and sensitive piece of legislation handled by the House of Commons this year, but it was the Senate that really threw a wrench in the government’s plans to get the law in place before everyone went home for the summer.

Once the bill was in front of them, the Red Chamber tried passing an amendment to give Canadians who aren’t terminally ill access to doctor-assisted death (which is more in line with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada), but the House of Commons rejected that amendment and sent the bill back again.

Complicating matters was the growing crop of independent senators who were not compelled to vote along party lines. The legislation was widely seen as the first major test of how a truly independent Senate might work.

In the end, the Senate yielded. The more restrictive legislation became law in June, to the relief of some Canadians and the dismay of others.

Expenses

It cost taxpayers $200,000 to move two top Trudeau aides from Toronto to Ottawa, $3,700 to cover limo rides for the health minister, and $6,600 to pay a photographer to follow our environment minister minister around.

Scandals involving government expenses are nothing new in Canada ($16 orange juice, anyone?), but the Liberals set a new record for the sheer number of damaging headlines in August and September.

The prime minister promised, each time, that his government was reviewing how expenses are handled.

Values screening

Kellie Leitch was barely a blip on the political radar when she launched her campaign to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, but all that changed with an email sent to her supporters in the fall. Leitch wanted to know if they thought screening immigrants and refugees for “anti-Canadian values” was a good idea.

What followed was weeks of controversy, debate and speculation about what, exactly, an “anti-Canadian value” might be.

Leitch doubled (and tripled) down, in spite of opposition from within her own party, then added fuel to the fire with praise of president-elect Donald Trump.

Expect the controversies to continue. The Conservatives aren’t set to choose a new leader until next May.

Liz may resign

Elizabeth May has been the face of the federal Green Party and its sole MP for a decade, so when she began talking about stepping down, people took notice.

May found herself in direct conflict with her party’s membership in August when the Greens voted to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel during their convention.

After a week of soul-searching and a meeting with top party brass, she stayed. The party’s support for the BDS movement has since been retracted.

First Nations suicide crisis

The third-world conditions in many First Nations communities across Canada were once again laid bare in April when 11 people tried to take their own lives in a single night in the remote town of Attawapiskat.

Local chief Bruce Shisheesh pleaded for help from Ottawa, highlighting the overcrowded and substandard housing situation plaguing Attawapiskat and many other reserves across Canada.

Eight-year-old Shakira Koostachin plays on a swing in the northern Ontario First Nations reserve in Attawapiskat, Ont.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

“I’m homeless, leading my own community,” Shisheesh told Global News.

“I sleep on a couch, how would you feel if you were leading Attawapiskat and you didn’t have a home or a place to sleep?”

The government responded with emergency aid and a visit from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett. In June, Shisheesh and youth from the community met personally with the prime minister.

Phoenix payroll meltdown

The Liberals inherited a disaster-in-the-making with the roll-out of the Phoenix payroll system in February. The new program, which handles the paycheques of around 300,000 federal public servants, came with a steep learning curve and an already deep backlog of files waiting to be processed.

It promptly flamed out.

For some employees, the money simply dried up, while others failed to receive back-pay or overtime pay. As the crisis deepened and families struggled to pay their mortgages, the government opened new call centres to handle pay files and hired new staff to man the phones. As of December, the backlog still hasn’t been cleared.

Loss of Jim Prentice and Jean Lapierre

Canada’s Parliament lost two former cabinet ministers in 2016, and shockingly they both died in plane crashes. Jean Lapierre, who became a respected Quebec political analyst after leaving federal politics, was killed on March 29 while en route with his family to his father’s funeral in eastern Quebec.

Then, in October, former Alberta premier and federal minister Jim Prentice died in a similar crash at the opposite end of the country, in British Columbia. He had also been travelling with family.

Both deaths shook the federal political scene, with tributes to the two men pouring in from across the country.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Canada’s Brooke Henderson survived some tense moments on the back nine on the way to defending her title at the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic on Sunday and a four-stroke victory.

The second-ranked Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., shot a 14-under 274 after a final round 71 at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, pulling away from American Stacy Lewis, who was 10-under after a 69.

Henderson became the first back-to-back winner at Portland since Annika Sorenstam won consecutive tournaments in 2002 and 2003. The 18-year-old is the first wire-to-wire winner at Portland since the tournament went to a 72-hole event in 2013.

Henderson is the tour’s second wire-to-wire winner this year, joining Ha Na Jang, who won the Coates Championship in February.

READ MORE: Teen golf star Brooke Henderson has sights set on Olympics

It was Henderson’s third career win, all coming in the Northwest. Aside from her two Portland victories, Henderson won the Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee in Sammamish, Washington, three weeks ago.

Stacy Lewis is winless in 53 starts since taking the North Texas LPGA Shootout in June 2014 for her 11th tour victory. She has 11 runner-up finishes during the drought and 24 overall.

Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, the 2011 and 2013 Portland champion finished third at 9-under after a 72. Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe, tied for the lead with seven holes remaining, was 8-under after making double bogeys on her final two holes to shoot 75. Austin Ernst, who won Portland in 2014, was also 8-under after a 73.

Christina Kim posted the low score of the day with a 66 to finish 7-under, as did Lee-Anne Pace, Lee Lopez and Cheyenne Woods. Pace shot 68, while Woods had a 72 for her first career top 10. Lopez, an LPGA rookie, shot 73.

READ MORE: Canada’s Brooke Henderson wins Women’s PGA Championship

This Portland performance was much different than her runaway victory in 2015, when Henderson rolled to a tournament-record eight-stroke win with a 21-under 267.

Henderson was forced to grind the final two rounds, often having to save pars following wayward drives.

Sunday turned into a two-player race early on the back nine, when Uribe birdied the par-4, 337-yard 11th to tie Henderson for the lead at 14-under.

But Henderson quickly resumed control at the par-5, 546-yard 12th. Uribe hit a poor drive and made bogey, while Henderson dropped a three-foot birdie putt to take a two-shot lead.

The lead melted to one at 13, when Henderson’s tee shot at the 160-yard par-3 went into the bunker and she made bogey. Uribe fell two strokes back at the par-4, 372-yard 15th with a bogey.

The par-4, 397-yard 17th became the tournament’s decisive hole. Henderson and Uribe both drove into a bunker, then blasted their approach shots over the green. But Uribe hit her third shot 50 feet past the hole and made double bogey, while Henderson was able to get up and down to save par, making an eight-foot putt.

Lewis never got closer than three strokes, and might have put some pressure on Henderson but made bogeys at 16 and 18.

Sakura Yokomine (69), Vicky Hurst (71) and Carlota Cignada (73) were eight shots back at 6-under. In-Kyung Kim shot 69 to head a group of five at 5-under.

American Morgan Pressel was 2-under after posting her best round of the week, a 67.